Anatomy PALs: a student-led learning community

Students of Medical Sciences subjects often find their human anatomy courses challenging as it is necessary to learn many new terms and to understand complex spatial relationships. This poster aims to showcase our student-led peer assisted (PAL) learning scheme to support students on these courses.

In this scheme, PAL tutors, who are 3rd- and 4th-year Biomedical Sciences students, support the learning of their 2nd-year peers. Following their induction, PAL tutors sign up for anatomy practical classes using an online spreadsheet. For a typical class size of about 40 students, we aim for two to three PAL tutors per class in addition to two staff members. PAL tutors do not replace staff members but provide additional assistance for students. As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, PAL tutors created additional online material for self-study and self-assessment and initiated a ‘buddy scheme’, where each PAL tutor provides personalised support for up to three students.

The PAL scheme has received very positive feedback from students over the years. They find the PAL support and the resources created by the PAL tutors effective for their learning. The PAL tutors benefit by reinforcing their own learning, gaining teaching experience and developing transferrable skills. Finally, staff members obtain additional student feedback via the PAL tutors and gain new insights into students’ study techniques that can inspire their own teaching.

To conclude, the PAL scheme provides an additional support structure and ‘safe spaces’, in which students feel comfortable asking questions. Thus, it has helped to create a more resilient learning community.